Photo Feature: Famine in Gaza enters its final stage according to the United Nations
113 starvation deaths have been reported as of July 24, 2025, which includes 81 children and 32 adults
GAZA, Palestine (MNTV) – As aid trucks idle at borders sealed by Israel and desperate Palestinian civilians are gunned down for reaching food, a slow, deliberate starvation campaign unfolds.
These haunting images capture a people being choked into silence while the world stands by. A Palestinian doctor warns: “Our wounded bleed less now—not because they heal, but because there’s no blood left. They don’t recover. They just die.”
- Food at Gates, Famine Inside: Gaza Starves While Aid is Blocked
There is no shortage of food within a couple of miles of Gaza where famine has entered its final stage. The United Nations says that it has 6,000 trucks loaded with supplies ready to enter Gaza. The UN says it has enough food at the border to feed 2 million Palestinians in Gaza for 3 months. Rows of the United Nations refugee agency UNRWA trucks, heavy with food, sit idling at Gaza’s southern border. Israeli authorities have kept them stranded for weeks. “Every truck stopped is a hundred lives endangered,” says Juliette Touma of UNRWA. The goods are there. The mouths to feed are waiting. But Israeli genocide policies have turned food into a weapon. Gaza’s humanitarian lifeline is choked—by design. This image is not just about stalled aid; it’s about manufactured suffering.
- A Deadly Routine: Hunger Lines Stretch for Blocks
Outside a destroyed UN warehouse, hundreds of Palestinians stand in line hoping for a ration. Some hold infants, others carry jerrycans or bags. There is no guarantee food will arrive. Aid workers say these lines form before dawn and often disperse without supplies. “We wait for hours, sometimes for nothing,” says one man. Many have fainted in queues. In Gaza, seeking food means risking your life. With Israel blocking thousands of trucks, it’s a daily routine.
- Gunned Down While in Line for Food
A chaotic scene outside an aid truck—bodies on the ground. Witnesses say Israeli forces opened fire without warning. The victims were unarmed civilians waiting for food. Human rights groups confirm over 1,000 Palestinians have died while attempting to collect aid since late May. “They knew people would be there, hungry—but they shot anyway,” says an aid worker. This image captures the cruel intersection of starvation and targeted violence. Even food lines have become killing fields.
- UN: Gaza Enters Final Stage of Famine
A skeletal toddler in a refugee camp of Gaza experiencing acute malnourishment. The United Nations has formally declared that Gaza is now in the “final stages of famine”—a catastrophic level of hunger where death becomes the norm and mass starvation is irreversible without immediate aid. “Seeking food is now as deadly as the bombs,” warned UN spokesperson Juliette Touma. The image reveals the face of a disaster too long ignored. In Gaza, hunger is no longer a consequence of war—it is the war.
- Starving in Silence: Journalists Fade
A journalist in Gaza battles starvation and water crisis. AFP reports their Gaza-based reporters are too weak to cover the crisis. “They’re not just documenting famine—they’re part of it,” said an editor. With water and food crises and constant bombardment, even the truth is under siege. This image tells a parallel story: of those who continue to report, even as their bodies give out.
- Children Scavenge for Scraps
Small children struggling to find food amid a huge crowd. With food supplies exhausted, children across Gaza are foraging in rubble and refuse. Aid agencies call this a public health disaster. But to these children, it’s survival. This image captures the raw desperation of youth raised on the edge of death, where even garbage becomes a resource.
- A Mother’s Empty Pot
Mothers carry their empty pots in order to secure food for their famished children. “There’s nothing to cook,” a mother says. Across Gaza, traditional meals have been replaced by boiled weeds, animal feed, and in some cases, nothing. Malnutrition has doubled among children in the past four months. This image is both mundane and devastating—a symbol of maternal instinct colliding with impossible odds.
- Diplomatic Words, Empty Plates
Around 28 countries condemned Israel’s starvation tactics recently, their statement was displayed on a screen in Gaza. Just meters away, Gazans queue at a UN center with nothing to distribute. Diplomats speak of urgency, but aid has not increased. “Statements don’t feed children,” says a local activist. This juxtaposition—world leaders talking, civilians starving—highlights the futility of concern without consequence. This image captures global hypocrisy in sharp contrast.
- Children of Famine
In a makeshift school, a teacher tries to distract starving students with drawing exercises. One child collapses mid-lesson. “They are no longer hungry for knowledge,” says the teacher. “Just hungry.” Malnutrition now affects over 90% of Gaza’s children. This photo, of tiny hands barely gripping pencils, reflects a generation losing its chance—not just to eat, but to learn, grow, and live.
- Water, But No Food
A girl in Gaza fills canisters from a water tank while carrying her ‘spider-man’ toy. Water still trickles in from limited pipelines, but food has nearly disappeared. “You can drink and still starve,” says a volunteer. This photo captures the cruel irony of survival in Gaza: water quenches thirst but cannot stop the hunger that gnaws day and night.
- Burials of Starved: ‘Now We Fear More for Hunger than Airstrakes’
There are no proper funerals in Gaza anymore, just hasty prayers and grief. Local imams say they now bury children every day who died of preventable causes. “We used to fear airstrikes. Now we fear hunger more.” This image shows death not in explosion, but in decay—the slow erasure of life due to blockade and neglect.
- No Way Out: Journalists Plead for Evacuation
Journalists in Gaza stage a protest against genocide by Israel, urgently calling for evacuation and protection. The call comes amid the deadliest conflict for media professionals in the 21st century, with hundreds of journalists reportedly killed by Israel in Gaza since October 2023—including at least 185 confirmed by the Committee to Protect Journalists as of early July 2025—while many remaining press members now face life-threatening famine and lack of aid access.
- Starvation Deaths Rise in Gaza
113 starvation deaths have been reported as of July 24, 2025, which includes 81 children and 32 adults. On July 24, two more Palestinians died of starvation and malnutrition. The update came a day after the ministry reported 10 similar deaths, underscoring the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged enclave.
- Children bear Brunt of Famine as Hunger Deaths Surge in July
Health officials warn Gaza is now in Phase 5 famine — the most severe level on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale, indicating mass starvation. surged this year: June: 5 deaths; July (so far): 48 deaths — including 28 children and 20 adults. At least 28,677 cases of malnutrition in children under five have been reported in 2025. Over 260,000 children are in urgent need of nutritional support.
Severe acute malnutrition and moderate acute malnutrition cases are climbing fast: June: 6,551 cases; First half of July: 6,910 new cases. 100,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are facing severe nutritional deficiencies. Gaza has seen 1,556 preterm births and 3,120 stillbirths or miscarriages in 2025 — likely linked to maternal hunger and stress. More than 159,000 elderly people are at high risk of starvation. 18,000 wounded people remain at critical risk due to weak immunity and lack of nutrition and medicine.
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